School Officials Exploring Decline In Test Scores

February 08, 2002|By TRACY GORDON FOX; Courant Staff Writer

COLCHESTER — School officials say they are working to determine whether there are any instructional or curriculum improvements that can be made after Connecticut Mastery Test scores dropped in math and writing.

Math scores for the eighth grade slipped seven points, with 49 percent of the students meeting or exceeding the standards.

``There is a concern about the eighth-grade math, but that is an area we are already working on,'' said Karen Loiselle, curriculum director for Colchester schools.

Some school board members said the administration should look into why many of the scores fell.

``We just have to look and try to determine what happened here,'' school board member John Mazzarella said.

Loiselle said they have noticed that some of the material covered on the test is not included in the mathematics textbooks students are using. ``That's huge,'' she said.

She said administrators are also trying to determine why some students who had demonstrated mastery in fourth and sixth grades suddenly fell short on the eighth-grade test.

According to the results, 67 percent of fourth-graders and 71 percent of sixth-graders were at or above the standard in math.

Writing scores dropped across all of the grades, and administrators are reviewing these as well, Loiselle said.

In 2000-01, 80 percent of sixth-graders met the writing goal; 65 percent met the goal in 2001-02. The writing scores dropped for eighth-graders from 65 percent to 57 percent, and from 61 percent to 55 percent for fourth-graders.

Reading scores rose for fourth-graders from 59 percent to 62 percent, but dropped slightly for sixth- and eighth-graders.

Loiselle said the district math and language arts leadership teams are analyzing all the data. The results are also being shared and discussed with teachers by their principals, Loiselle said.

The state Department of Education is expected to release statewide results later this month.